Chemin de iron Tanzania-Zambia

The railroad Tanzania-Zambia , TAZARA railroad in English (also called Uhuru Railway, d" after the word Swahili for freedom , and Tanzam Railway ) was built in the years 1970 by the Tanzania-Zambia Railway Authority (“TAZARA”) in order to disenclose the Zambia a country without access to the sea and to create an alternative to the railroad passing by the Southern Rhodesia and the South Africa, two countries then subjected to a mode of Apartheid and this fact boycotted by the majority of the countries independent of Africa.

Construction

The railroad was financed and built by the popular republic of China which at that time sought to propagate its influence in Africa. Construction began in 1970 and the line was opened with the traffic six years later. The line leaves the Tanzanian port of Dar are Salam, takes a South-western direction crossing all the South of Tanzania. This area was during practically uninhabited construction. There was then an important industrial development following the construction of the hydroelectric factory of Kidatu and a Papetrie with Rufiji. The line crosses then the border and joined the Zambian railroad to Kapiri Mposhi. Its overall length is of 1.860 km and altitude at the point of arrival is of 1.400m.

The total costs of the operation rose to 500 million dollars making of this line the project of the most expensive development assistance foreign ever undertaken by China.

Interconnection

The spacing of the rails is of 1 067 mm, in order to correspond to that of the Zambian Railroads. Those Ci being connected to the railway network of Zimbabwe and the Africa-of-South, the TAZARA constitutes an access point in direction of the network of the railroads of the Southern Africa. There is a Breaking bulk between the line and that of the Tanzania Railways Corporation (1000 mm) in Dar Es Salaam. A station of transshipment is in construction with Kidatu.

The possibility of an extension in direction of the big lakes including a connection with Burundi and Rwanda is under discussion.

Served cities

Kapiri Mposhi, interconnection with the Zambian network
Serenje
Mpika
Kasama
Tunduma
Mbeya
Mlimba
Ifakara
Kidatu
Dar be Salam

Géostratégie

Built to provide a strategic way to the sea to Zambia and in order to reinforce alliance between the decolonized countries and China and to reduce the economic influence of South Africa on the Southern Africa the TAZARA forever be profitable and is from now on in direct competition with the road infrastructures the such Transcaprivi Highway. Moreover, since the end of apartheid, Zambia reorientated these economic links towards South Africa…

Irony of fate, the TAZARA in addition constituted one of the last missing links of the colonial great project of Railroad the Cape it Cairo wanted by Cecil Rhodos.

Future prospects

In 2005, the governments of Tanzania and Zambia agreed for privatiser this line because of the important fall of traffic observed of 1,2 million tons in 1990 to 630.000 tons in 2003 and of the required investments to repair the engines (25 million dollars). The method of privatization was not determined, but it was decided to give the priority to the Chinese investors because of the historical implication of this country in this railway line.

References

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